Goals

Just got home from work and realized I never published this last week. Sorry guys! Double-chapter today.

After settling Elui in a room and assigning one of the servants to attend her, Ahsch went back to the library with his girls. The acolyte trio had left a few hours after the rabbit-girl had arrived, heading back to their homes to inform their families about the new development and to start packing their possessions. And as much as Ahsch wanted to talk to his new guest, he didn't want to overwhelm the girl, so he committed himself to leave her alone until dinner, to give her time to process what had happened and - hopefully - get a little comfortable at the Temple.

Rather than expand on rules and instructions, Ahsch instead focused on Enochiel's teachings - the reasons for the commandments, and expansions on those core rules. It was a very different experience from writing up regulations, since those were designed for people who worshiped or served, and therefore were already predisposed to listen and adhere to the rules. Comparatively, writing out the reasoning and logic behind those rules necessitated a different approach, and involved a lot more introspection.

Even for something as simple as his sixth commandment, that consent was needed for sex, actually spelling out why that was such a core rule was interesting. **** was a crime in the Kingdom, and personal rights were generally egalitarian - making it so that husbands couldn't **** their wives because it was a wifely duty, like some states in the USA still technically allowed - but actually talking about the morality from a divine perspective was far outside anything Ahsch had done before. Relying on the laws of mortal nations, or even the teachings of other gods, was a mistake when trying to create his own authority.

After a few hours of what almost felt like moralizing, the Dominant Mage pulled himself away from religious tasks and focused on secular ones. Namely, the homework Butler had assigned him during his week-long exile. Just because he was away from R'sath didn't mean he couldn't still learn how to be a royal.

Or practice his magic.

Or work on his bond powers, though that was much harder to ignore when his teacher was present in the Temple. Though where in the Temple was another question entirely.

Despite all the demands on his time, he managed to have a few hours left before dinner once he had finished up all the routine practice and learning, so he reviewed his 'To-Do' list. Merging Arsenal of Ecstasy and Edge of Glory was still an ongoing task, but given the way things had been going for weeks, the Dominant Mage didn't think it was necessary to focus quite as much on a mostly combat-oriented goal. Likewise, mastering Mahat's Shapeshift was more of a passing interest at the moment. He didn't like leaving unfinished projects lying around, but he also felt it a waste to focus on them over other, more relevant ideas.

He'd already planned to make use of Mystic Domain in two days, so there wasn't much to do there. Likely the most important goal was the healing magic he had been thinking of requiring his priests to learn. After a quick search, he found a couple books they had bought on the subject, and set up a new study area at a different table in the library. The core interest - that being some kind of diagnostic magic - was actually possible, but in several different flavors. There were spells to look for broken bones, to detect internal injuries, to diagnose diseases or infections, to check for 'imbalances' in the body - which Ahsch quickly determined largely referred to hormonal issues - and so on. Oddly, there wasn't any 'check for anything wrong' spell, but it wasn't hard to figure out why.

Each of the specific spells were, to some extent, reference databases that were used to compare and contrast expected results against detected abnormalities. As such, the spells themselves came with a certain amount of strain, both mentally taxing the caster as well as coming with respectable Mana costs. The problem with combining all the diagnostic spells was those consequences grew exponentially with each spell added, resulting in a spell that was nigh-impossible for most people to cast. Efforts could be made to improve the efficiency of the gestalt spell, but that only went so far, and was rather dependent on the caster's skill.

What if the spell instead compared a 'snapshot' of the target from before to their current state? Mahat suggested. The spell itself might be more complex, and it wouldn't diagnose anything on its own, but it could be used to keep track of changes, which could then be checked on by specialized spells.

That's... actually brilliant, Ahsch said, then laughed. _We could even offer a public service that isn't at odds with anyone: healthcare! We train a group of priests to use the diagnostic spells, and teach patients how to use the... hmm... 'Checkup' spell, which they can then use at home. If they find something too far out of the ordinary, they can come and get checked by the specialists, and possibly even treated!_

That sounds wonderful, Master!

They shared the idea with Ariin, who also enthusiastically agreed, then with Dhina, who also thought it was a great idea, and proceeded to write up a list of resources they'd need to make it happen. Meanwhile, Ahsch got to work learning the various diagnostic spells, which he hoped to eventually use as the basis of the Checkup spell. Finally, he thought to himself, something that isn't just weird.

A surprise for dinner came in the form of Naemui, and it was two-fold. The first was that she was there at all - she explained that her family was usually quite busy throughout the day, even during normal dinner hours, and so most of them fended for themselves for meals. But the second was in her garb: unlike the common clothes she had worn before, the harpy was dressed quite provocatively, revealing great swathes of her tanned skin. Amusingly, her top was the same single-piece, wrap-like bikini that the angels had worn during the service, though unlike the angels, it bulged very little around the harpy's petite, nearly flat chest. On the bottom, however, she wore actually less, with none of the flowing sashes or skirts, and in general no loose fabric or jewelry anywhere - a sensible choice, given that such garments would create a lot of drag on a flier. Instead of the panels and loops of cloth, Naemui wore... Ahsch had to double-take, because as far as he could tell, it was a strapless c-string. Biting her lip and blushing, the harpy nervously smiled at him and did a slow spin, revealing that the thong simply disappeared between her butt cheeks. The Dominant Mage wondered if it was secured similarly to his sister's, with a plug filling her ass beneath her feathered tail.

The one exception to her lack of flowing, free attachments was her silvery hair. During the after-service festivities, Ahsch hadn't realized just how much hair the harpy had, since she'd had it done up in a bun. But now, she wore it in long braids, and the sheer amount was astounding. She had it styled into three asymmetric braids, with a fairly small braid descending from the corner of her bangs on the right side, hanging below her ear, and connecting back up against her head to then be interwoven into the largest braid, which was offset to the left of the back of her head and reached down to her feathered ass. The final braid was middle-sized, and simply hung down from in front of her left ear, and was only marginally shorter, reaching her belly-button.

Completing her spin, Naemui quietly asked, "You said that there wasn't a uniform... and since Miss Ariin wears... ah... I just thought that this would..."

Ahsch smiled, and had to work not to eye-**** the petite harpy. "You look... amazing," he said. "As long as you take pride in your appearance, in your body, Enochiel approves."

She grinned. Then looked away nervously. "Is... is it okay that I came for dinner? If not I..."

The Dominant Mage interrupted her. "It's fine. You'll be living here soon enough, and of course we will provide meals." He gave her a lopsided smile. "I just didn't expect you to come right away."

She bowed her head. "I've dedicated my life to y- to Enochiel," she explained. "I want to be here as much as I can."

"And you are welcome here," Ahsch replied, leading the acolyte to the dining hall. Meanwhile, Mahat cackled in his mind, and Ariin sent images of the harpy, naked and blushing and gasping as Ahsch utterly ravished her. Because of course his girls would tease him about other wildly attractive girls.

At dinner, Naemui attracted many stares, but none stared as much as Elui, who couldn't seem to take her eyes off the harpy. The rabbit-girl had changed into a simple grey robe, and was eating at a fast, but controlled pace. After a few minutes, Ahsch decided to announce to his table - which included his two guests, his girls, and the heads of the various groups of servants and the sentinels - his plan about providing health services once the priesthood gained enough members. Elui seemed surprised, and while she didn't participate in the conversation which followed, she did watch and listen with keen interest. Naemui was also very interested, and recommended that Wen be considered to be appointed to the task, as the quiet boy apparently had an interest in health. Ahsch agreed, provided the human gained some confidence, or at the very least could handle the responsibility of heading such a project. A few additional ideas were suggested, both regarding the health service, as well as in other areas, and the Dominant Mage was delighted that the residents of the Temple were already getting involved in its growth.